Editorials

As far as anyone knows, Bill Meehan has not yet cleaned out his office at Bibb Graves Hall. He's had only a cursory interview for another job, and he's yet to drive down to south Georgia and formally stump for the presidency of Valdosta State University.

For now, he remains the head honcho at Jacksonville State.

For a life-long, self-admitted JSU man, it might be a touch unfair to leap ahead and ponder what's next. But JSU is a vital part of Calhoun County's infrastructure, and neither the county's leadership nor the university's Board of Trustees can afford to adhere to the timetable of another university or a president who's actively seeking to move on for valid, personal reasons.

There's no doubt that Meehan's departure into the hinterlands of Georgia higher education would send shock waves throughout Calhoun County. He's hardly an irrelevant figure. Since Meehan's Valdosta candidacy became front-page news, comments from campus and community have ranged from the despondent to the back-slapping. "Losing someone like that would hurt," said county commissioner Robert Downing. "A good emissary," another called him. Others said he was "a great asset" and "a reservoir of knowledge."

Clearly, the man has his fans.

Since ascending to the presidency at JSU in 1999, Meehan has overseen significant improvements across the university's campus, perhaps none bigger than the success of the school's $25 million Capital Campaign and the seeking of a doctoral program — the university's first — in emergency management.

No university president is squeaky-clean perfect, and to his credit, Meehan's occasional hiccups do not seem to have irreparably soiled his reputation. If that were the case, the former biology instructor would not reside on Valdosta's semifinalist list.

Undoubtedly, replacing him at JSU — especially his institutional acumen and love for the university — would be a daunting task for a Board of Trustees with two new members and a stupefying obsession with a needless expansion of the school's on-campus football stadium. And one could claim that replacing him within Calhoun County's sticky web of boards, non-profits and charitable organizations would be the largest task of all.

If Meehan packs his U-Haul and heads to south Georgia, it will create a seminal moment in the modern-day history of Jacksonville State. The university is lathered in both intriguing possibilities and frustrating, this-is-the-way-we've-always-done-it traditions. Despite bone-deep budget cuts, higher-education outlets in Alabama — those not in Lee and Tuscaloosa counties — have proven to have the ability to represent more than little sisters to the state's big two, if they have the progressive, out-of-the-box leadership that's required.

Is this a premature conversation? Probably. But it's never too soon for JSU's trustees and alumni to ask questions: What vision should the university's leadership have? Down which road should JSU go? If there becomes a vacancy at Bibb Graves Hall — or even if it does not — now is the perfect time to seek those answers.